It’s April, 1912, and with her mother’s death, fifteen year old Liliana Alvaro must face the difficult fact that she and her nine year old brother, Jossue, and her six year old sister, Maravilla, are now orphans. Swept up by a tide of circumstances she cannot control, Liliana struggles to keep her family together. When the three agree to board a train for an unknown destination to be “placed out west” Liliana knows that even with her fierce determination, Jossue’s shrewd schemes, and Maravilla’s childlike faith there is little hope that they will stay together.
Yet Maravilla has a secret or two to tell and it seems as if Mamá and Papá have left behind more than just loving memories. Ideas of treasure and wealth and long-lost family fire Liliana’s hopes and dreams. With single minded focus, Liliana forges ahead becoming a young woman willing to sacrifice everything to recover what her family has lost.
When the chance to claim her birthright is within her grasp at last, Liliana is forced to face the hardest of all questions: what was the true treasure that her parents wanted her to have?
